How hot is it? It depends, of course, on where you are. From a global perspective there are agencies that check and recheck and average it all out.

The world’s combined global land and ocean surface temperature made last month the warmest March on record, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Taken separately, average ocean temperatures were the warmest for any March and the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record. Additionally, the planet has seen the fourth warmest January — March period on record.

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It continues to get warmer in the world. Some places may seem cooler but the world is not.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 56.3°F, which is 1.39°F above the 20th century average of 54.9°F.

The world ocean surface temperature was the highest for any March on record -1.01°F above the 20th century average of 60.7°F.

The global land surface temperature was 2.45°F above the 20th century average of 40.8 °F — the fourth warmest on record. Warmer than normal conditions dominated the globe, especially in northern Africa, South Asia and Canada. Cooler than normal regions included Mongolia and eastern Russia, northern and western Europe, Mexico, northern Australia, western Alaska and the southeastern United States.

For the year to date, the combined global land- and ocean surface temperature of 55.3°F (13.0°C) was the fourth warmest for a January-March period. This value is 1.19°F above the 20th century average.

According to the Beijing Climate Center, Tibet experienced its second warmest March since historical records began in 1951. Delhi, India also had its second warmest March since records began in 1901, according to the India Meteorological Department.

When it gets warmer the pole ice tends to melt. Arctic sea ice covered an average of 5.8 million square miles during March. This is 4.1 percent below the 1979-2000 average expanse, and the fifth smallest March coverage since records began in 1979.

On the other end of the world in Antarctic, sea ice expanse in March was 6.9 percent below the 1979-2000 average, resulting in the eighth smallest March ice coverage on record.

In the US, the temperature averaged across the contiguous U.S. was above normal. Several storms developed along the Atlantic Coast, bringing below normal temperatures to the South and Southeast, while bringing warm and wet weather to the Northeast and East North Central regions.

On a statewide level, Rhode Island had its warmest March on record. It was Maine's second warmest March, New Hampshire's third warmest, and the fifth warmest for Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, and Minnesota. Five other states (for a total of thirteen) also had a March average temperature among their ten warmest.